NDP Leader Tom Mulcair today announced a plan to spend $454 million over the next four years to improve healthcare and benefits for veterans.Mulcair made the announcement while visiting the riding of Sackville-Preston-Chezzetcook, held by NDP Veterans Affairs critic Peter Stoffer. Stoffer has long been associated with veterans' issues.The New Democrats say they would use the money to improve mental health care and long-term care for veterans, as well as increasing survivors' pensions and funding the Last Post Program, which helps to pay the costs of veterans' funerals.Some of the money would also go to the Veterans Independence Program, which provides housekeeping and other services to enable veterans to remain in their homes.Mulcair also committed to apologize and "make amends" to veterans who were dismissed or forced out of the military in the past for being gay.

Vets flanking Mulcair are Earl Wagner (served 1941-1945) and Jock McStay (served 1942-1946). Wagner, at Mulcair's left, was in merchant navy. McStay (Mulcair's right) was a Seaforth Highlander who served in the liberation of Holland. (Evan Dyer/CBC)

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair today announced a plan to spend $454 million over the next four years to improve health care and benefits for veterans if the New Democrats form government after the Oct. 19 vote.

Elections Canada has quietly warned staff to be on the lookout for increasingly sophisticated tactics aimed at discouraging -- or even stopping -- voters from casting a ballot.

The advanced voter suppression techniques flourishing in the United States are likely to spill into other countries, employees were advised in a presentation aimed at raising awareness prior tothe Oct. 19 federal election.

The digital revolution has fuelled intensive data analysis south of the border that allows political parties to zero in on people who support rival candidates and then find ways to prevent them fromvoting.

The development prompted Elections Canada to comb through academic papers and media reports and talk to experts and lawyers about the phenomenon of electoral malpractice.

"It's important for us to identify potential risks in order to be prepared to detect and respond to incidents that may occur, including incidents that could compromise the integrity of theelection," said Elections Canada spokesman John Enright.

As Canadians are coming in from the rain here in the Lower Mainland and from runs all across the country they're going to come home and realize that the money they've donated to the Terry Fox Foundation through the Terry Fox Run today is going to be matched by the federal government.

The Conservatives insist a multimillion-dollar campaign pledge to match donations raised by the Terry Fox Foundation doesn't cross the line by leveraging the popularity of one of Canada's most revered heroes.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair got a warm welcome from veterans at a Legion branch in Dartmouth, N.S., today. The event was held in the riding of NDP's Veterans Affairs critic Peter Stoffer, and a number of the vets present said it was Stoffer's advocacy on their behalf that had led them to a party they had not traditionally supported.Second World War veteran Earl Wagner said he was opposed to the closure of nine government offices that used to offer services to veterans. He said veterans feel disrespected by the current government.Jock McStay, who fought in Italy and the liberation of Holland with the Seaforth Highlanders and wore a chestful of medals, said he had no complaints about the way Veterans Affairs had treated him personally, but felt that veterans who came home with severe injuries were being dealt with unfairly.

McStay said he would vote NDP, although he disagreed with the party's views on withdrawing from the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. McStay added, though, that he didn't believe the current government's strategy against ISIS would achieve anything either, as he believes Canada needs boots on the ground.

Local vet Gerry White served 31 years with the RCMP, and then with the Navy.He said his brother Sid, also a veteran, had given up trying to access veterans services he was legally entitled to. The closure of the veterans office in the White's hometown of Cornerbrook, N.L., meant that Sid White faced a seven-hour drive and a hotel stay in St. John's if he wanted to see a Veterans Affairs representative.

He said people in the military typically support Conservatives, but not so much anymore.

With the federal election a month away, voter-engagement advocates are are once again trying to get out the vote, but Canada is not the only country that has problems getting its citizens to turn up to vote.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is in Peterborough, Ont., later today. Here is the Canadian Press's snapshot of the Peterborough-Kawartha riding:

Worth watching: The race is on to elect a new MP in the riding of Peterborough-Kawartha, most recently held by disgraced former Conservative Dean Del Mastro. The district has been redrawn and replaces the old Peterborough riding. It will get a new MP for the first time in nearly a decade because Del Mastro, a former parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, stepped down after he was convicted in October 2014 of election spending violations in the 2008 campaign. In June, Del Mastro was sentenced to a month in jail. News cameras captured a rare sight after his sentencing: a former MP in shackles. Cameras rolled as Del Mastro, wearing handcuffs and leg irons, was marched by guards to a waiting van.

Population: 115,269 including the communities of Peterborough, Lakefield, Ennismore, Havelock and Buckhorn.

Incumbent: Del Mastro, who won three times in Peterborough, is not running.

Main challengers: The Tories have chosen local businessman Michael Skinner to try and hold the seat. Skinner owns event spaces, a restaurant and a property management firm, according to his campaign website. NDP candidate Dave Nickle is described on his website as a retired teacher and former district president of a teachers' federation. It also says Nickle, the runner-up to Del Mastro in 2011, is chair of a Peterborough community group that offers free legal advice and representation for lower-income residents. Liberal hopeful Maryam Monsef's profile says she is a former Peterborough mayoral candidate who represented the city at a United Nations commission on the status of women.

Election history: This bellwether riding has often elected MPs from the parties that win power, swinging back and forth between the Conservatives and Liberals for decades. Del Mastro first won the seat, previously held by the Liberals, in January 2006 and held it until he resigned in November 2014. He left the Tory caucus in September 2013 after being charged under the Canada Elections Act and sat as an Independent until his resignation.

Fun Fact: Walter Pitman won the riding in the 1960 byelection under the banner of the New Party, which later became the New Democratic Party. Pitman, a founder of the NDP, held the riding for nearly two years before losing the 1962 election to Progressive Conservative Fred Stenson.

Stephen Harper says he is optimistic about his chances in Peterborough, Ont., an area that was represented by Dean Del Mastro, the prime minister's former parliamentary secretary who was convicted of electoral offences.

Before a planned stop in the city later Monday, the Conservative leader said Del Mastro's actions are an unfortunate reflection on the former MP and that the needs of his riding are the same as those in the rest of Canada.

Harper said he believes constituents there have the same priorities as others: growing the economy while lowering taxes and making affordable investments.

Del Mastro was granted bail in June after spending a night in jail following his convictions of three offences -- overspending, failing to report a contribution he made to his own campaign and knowingly filing a false report.

He is appealing.

He won the riding three times for the Conservatives by healthy margins, but his conviction has hurt the party.Harper was campaigning in St. Jacobs, Ont., earlier today.